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Much of the eastern United States and Canada has been in a cold snap this month – um, it snowed in Savannah, Charleston, and Florida this past week. That is not unheard of, but it is pretty unusual! Are you dealing with cold weather? (And to my Down Under Readers, Happy Summer!)

With prolonged cold weather, there often come a few things that happen. First of all, wonderful cozy time at home, hopefully complete with hot drinks and a warm fireplace going. It can be a great time to catch up on projects and declutter.

If you need a way for your children to get out energy inside, try the suggestions in this post

It can also be a great time to play fun games! I will try to post some pictures on the Facebook page of our favorite games by age, but a general list includes for those under 9 cooperative games ( we like the ones by Family Pastimes; Snowstorm! could be appropriate) and games like Wildcraft. For those 9-12, we love the Monopoly games, Labyrinth, Sushi Go, chess (and many more). For younger teens, we love games like Monopoly (or Monopoly-type games like Horseopoly), Boggle, Scrabble, Tellestrations, Catan, Risk. Older teens (16 or 17 and up) like party card games, games like Secret Hitler, Resistance, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, and even old school games like the Game of Life and Rummikub can still be loved.

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I think things really start to hit the fan sometime in the upper grades. Some families don’t get into too much worry and anxiety about the block content or repetitive practice that they are finding (or not finding) in curriculums until 6th or 7th grade; some until high school; and some starting in fourth and fifth grade. This is understandable, because some of the contents of the blocks tap into things that perhaps we didn’t receive in our own education, so in order to have to teach that, and then to understand the impulse behind why we are teaching what we are teaching, and then to present that in this “magical” way we see on Pinterest or Instagram can often put a lot of pressure on a busy Waldorf mama!

One thing that always helps me is to have an idea of the flow of the curriculum of the Waldorf School in my head. No, I will not follow this curriculum exactly because I am a HOMESCHOOLER, but I also do not want to miss the iconic blocks that meet the archtypal development of the child. I also want to EXPAND the curriculum because I am not European, and I don’t want my homeschool to only include Western Civilization, but to be encompassing and inclusive. If I was South African or lived in the Pacific Rim countries, the curriclum I have chosen to use would look different because we work where we are, and there are Steiner Schools all over the world, not just in Europe or in the United States! But still, I have to know where the curriculum starts for my country.

So, if I can think in my head at first in generalities by looking at the overall flow for grades 4-12… (not including extra artistic work or music) , I can find where things will come around AGAIN. So I don’t have to include every little tiny thing about Rome for my sixth grader, because it will come back in high school! This list is so brief for this blog post, but my friend Lisa found a great list here from Emerson Waldorf School in NC regarding content by grade. However, here for your reference is a quick list for grades 4-12:

4th Grade – Local history and why early settlers were here and how natural resources were developed; Norse sagas; map making; Human and Animal block; Long Division/Word Problems/Fractions/Freehand Geometry; embroidery and cross stitch. What I might include as an American: hero tales; tall tales from North America; book reports; letter writing; spelling

5th Grade- Ancient India/Persia/Mesopotamia/Egypt/Greece; the lives of Manu/Rama/Buddha/Zarathustra/Gilgamesh and more; Greek mythology; Geography of the United States; Botany; could include zoology of other animals not covered in 4th grade; Decimals/Fractions/Mixed Numbers/Metric System; Geometry; knitting with four needles. I may include the entirety of North American geography in this grade. I also include Ancient Africa and Ancient China and the Maya in MesoAmerica.

6th Grade – The Roman Empire; Medieval life; the Crusades; The Golden Age of Islam; the life of Christ; the life of Muhammed; Geography of North and South America; World Geography – the big pictures of contrasts in the world; Physics of light, heat, sound, and magnetism; Mineralogy; possibly continued botany; Business Math (especially percentages, ratios, exchanges, equations, proportions);Geometry with a compass; creating patterns and sewing. I include Medieval Africa here as well.

7th Grade – What is often called “The Golden Age of Exploration” in schools I term “Colonialism”; The Renaissance; The Reformation; biographies; Wish/Wonder/Surprise block for writing fluency; Geography of Europe (I often put in sixth grade instead) and Africa; Astronomy; Chemistry; Physiology; Physics; Beginning Algebra/Perimeter/Graphing/Roots/Formula/Area/exponents; Geometry; Sewing and embroidery

8th Grade – Modern History – I like to get up through present day; Revolutions (or I might put this in 9th grade depending on the child); Poetry; Geography of the Pacific Rim; World Geography; Chemistry; Physiology of bones/muscles/the eye; Physics of light/heat/electricity/magnetism/aerodynamics; Meteorology; Geometry – Platonic Solids; Equations and Mensuration; Number Bases; Machine Sewing

9th Grade – Modern History (what I might focus on would be state history starting with the hunter gathers and First Peoples of our area, Early Settlers, any Modern History not finished in 8th grade); Great Inventions; Comedy and Tragedy; Art History; Meteorology; Mineralogy- Plate Tectonics; Chemistry; Physiology; Physics; Earth Science; Algebra/Euclidean Geometry; Copperwork and Pottery

12th Grade – Modern and World History; Russian literature; The Transcendentalists; Goethe’s Faust; World Geography and Map Making; Chemistry; Biochemistry; Physics – optics, mirrors, light, color; Zoology; Algebra and Geometry brought together in Analytical Geometry; Statistics; Probability; Computer Math; Integral Calculus; Logic; Building computers; History of Architecture. I will include a block on Modern African Literature.

When I look at the blocks, I have to think – how much do I know about this subject? If I close the curriculum pages, and think about what I know, what do I know? If I pull this topic up on the Internet what comes up? What is general flow for that subject normally for high school or early college? I usually do some Internet research on my own plus extensively use my library in order to write up a summary or biographical sketch that I can present, along with reading the actual curriculum or Waldorf resources I bought!

Often, for history especially, I need a timeline in my head and match biographies to the timeline I have for that historical period. For science, I may need to think about a particular flow to a block and if I understand the phenomenon myself or not and what i would need to understand it. It is very hard to teach these upper level subjects if you don’t know anything about them at all. It is different than opening up the pages of a fairy tale and reading it three nights in a row in one way but in another way if you can condense the information down into a summary you can present to your child, then you CAN read it three nights in a row and memorize. For example, right now I am writing some summaries based on what I have read regarding the Paleolithic Age and the Neolithic Revolution for our block in February on Ancient Civilizations in tenth grade. I have to research a little and put things together, and then own it and present it.

I have to understand the content in order to figure out the gestures behind the content and the polarities. I am always hunting for polarities, to teach in that antipathy-sympathetic way for the contrasts because that makes it all come alive! I also try to relate it back to what we studied previously. I find fault with the Charles Kovacs books sometimes, but I do think that is one thing those books do well – find the polarities, find how it relates to previous subjects.

Secondly, what is the Waldorf perspective on this? Do I understand the WHY of presenting this at this time? Most importantly, is the child in front of me ready for this topic now or developmentally are they behind or ahead where this topic is? I may need to shuffle the order of my blocks!

Then I have to think how can I present this in the most ENLIVENING WAY possible for us? What is most doable in our situation, and what excites us the most? Pinterest can help there; sometimes just having time to sit down and draw and decide what you want to capture is also the best use of time. The Main Lesson books for our oldest and middle daughters look different because we chose to capture different things, even with the same stories for fourth grade or for the Renaissance or whatever. Or maybe we threw the Main Lesson book out for that block and chose lapbooking or some other way to do something, especially for high school due to sheer volume of information. Homeschooling is flexible like that!

Then I have to think of the way we lay out sleep as our educational aid. With these blocks do I:

Open warmly (and how)

Review (many different way to review; variety is the spice of life!)

Practice skills; Work with the material artistically and in our heads

Have new material or deepen the material we have gone over. There should always be something new there!

So, this may not seem especially “light” but I do think it is reality. I don’t think there is a “one size fits all” for the upper grades. I think Live Education, Earthschooling, and Waldorf Essentials all have fairly complete curriculums for at least grades 6-12, and perhaps you start there when in doubt! But you actually need to look at the content and not just open up the curriculum morning of to teach. These upper level subjects need more preparation than that! If you break it up into small chunks starting in the spring, it is really doable. Use a few hours on a night to prepare for the next week, and the more you go through it, if you have multiple children for example, the more doable it becomes.

Teaching IS an art. I would love to deepen my own teaching and help readers deepen their own homeschool teaching. I would love to hear from you! How has working with your fourth through eighth graders deepened and differed from teaching your first through third graders? How has your high school teaching deepened? What have you learned along the way? This would be a great subject for a conference call with many mothers!

I just love January. The organizer in me loves new calendars, new organizers, the promise of a new school semester. The cozy introverted part of me loves the colder weather and being warm and cozy at home, snuggled up with hot chocolate and a good book and having things slow down. It is going to be a great month in so many ways.

This month we are celebrating:

Christmastide until Epiphany

6- Epiphany

15- Martin Luther King Jr Day

31 – St. John Bosco, celebrating with books and maybe a viewing of a movie about his life

If you are thinking about:

Rhythm – this is one of THE best back posts on rhythm for families with children of different ages. It includes tips for families with early years children to teenagers, and links to a seven part series on rhythm.

Fun things to do with children: Cut out paper snowflakes, including really cool 3-D snowflakes; dip candles; roll candles; play board games or card games with your children; draw, paint, model; whittle wood; make popcorn together; bake together; play in the snow – build snow forts; have snowball fights; snowshoe; downhill or cross country ski; ice skate on a pond; read and tell stories; build forts inside; take a walk outside in the cold – look for animal tracks or berries or birds or all of the above; knit, crochet, cross stitch, finger knit, spin, sew; sing and make music together – learn some new songs; clean, scrub, dust, work around the house – rearrange furniture; go bowling or find an indoor swimming pool to swim in; write letters to family and friends; write stories together; snuggle on the coach with hot chocolate and marshmellows; cook for a neighbor; find a place of worship to attend and get involved; throw a party; clicker train your dog, cat, or other animal; take care of plants; start seeds indoors when it it is time

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May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours.

From an Old Irish Blessing, author unknown

May this be your year of light + joy.

May this be a year you are renewed and replenished.

May this be a year you make great memories.

May you be proud of how far you have come and undaunted by whatever is ahead.

Go boldly and be your beautiful self.

Happy New Year, dear readers!

Blessings,

Carrie

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This is a great time to think about how to ease back into life after the holidays! Here in the Northern Hemisphere many have taken the week off between Christmas and New Year’s, and some children are going back to school the day after New Year’s and some are starting on January 8th. Parents everywhere are wondering how to get back into the groove of things, and homeschooling parents especially (you mean we can’t just end school here?)

Some of the things I love to do to help get back into things:

Review where we were in the fall semester and where we need to go in the spring semester. Some Waldorf homeschooling families write progress reports at this time. I only write one at the end of the school year, but I think each family is different.

Breakfast plans. It is hard to get the day going if we are caught up in making breakfast and then distraction sets in and everything starts really late. If you are home all day with younger children, this may not matter, but older teenagers often have places to be in the afternoon, and we need to get going in the morning. I find a warming breakfast often helps.

Planning rhythm around your rest and your own physical and emotional needs. This can be hard for some of us to do whether e we often put everyone else’s needs before us or we feel as if the education of every child in the house is relying on us. For a refresher, try this back post on Building Your Homeschooling Around Rest

Ease into the rest of the school year by having a nature week, a handwork week, a week focused on one great book (“The Living Language Book” by Christopherus has suggestions for this sort of unit), plan extra time for crafting or playing wonderful board games (post to come on our favorites) or being outside… in other words, take half days to just be together with structure before you start trying to throw a full schedule onto everyone!

If you must tackle a full schedule due to time constraints, then plan to start on a Wednesday or Thursday so you have a few days to be “on” and another mini-break. 🙂

Just a few ideas! Tell me your favorite way to ease back into school!

Blessings,
Carrie

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One thing I love about the beautiful and peaceful this winter season and the inner work of Christmastide is the ability to stop and think about how I want to craft our life – for me, for our family. Do you ever think about that? Many of the parents who read this blog have made very conscious decisions in their parenting in order to provide the healthiest home environment they can for their children, so I know many of you do.

Often I need that mid-school year check in. Things can so easily get off course depending upon what emergencies came up in the fall. So I often use this time between Christmas and New Year’s to think about what are the most pressing needs for each and every family member, including myself, and what would be best for building for the future. Often what we need and what our family members changes with the age/developmental stage of our children, the age we are (!!), and the seasons. So each year, I invite myself to turn inward and think about, “What does my family need? What does my spouse need? What do I need? What is the most important and essential thing that we need?”

Sometimes this leads toward me thinking of a word to carry myself through the year. You can see the little tradition of picking a word for the New Year and some of the things I typically do with that word here. You can see my word this year, “replenish,” on The Parenting Passageway Facebook page as the pinned post. Some people will go so far as to choose a word to embody their entire family. We have a family motto that we have had for years (KIPPA – kindness, integrity, positive attitude, patience, adventure), but I am meditating on the idea of a word for 2018 for our family.

People often ask about choosing a word for their year. Sometimes a word is obvious depending upon what has happened during the year, but if not I usually start by thinking what is the most important and essential thing and will that word help me or us strive in that direction?

Once I have my word, I think then is the time to work artistically with my word and see what arises. This is almost like the idea of just free artistic journaling as mentioned in the book The Artist’s Way. And then I need an action plan if there is anything that needs to happen. This year, my word will require some action, otherwise how will I feel replensihed if everything remains the same? Something will have to change in my inner or outer world. And the final piece is the action. It is not enough even to dream or to have a plan. As I always tell my children, the dream is free, but the hustle is real!

Can’t wait to hear about your word!

Blessings,
Carrie

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This morning, the day of the Christian Holy Feast of the Innocents, I was meditating on this piece about the humility of children from a Roman Catholic source. It pointed out how children are the builders for justice, peace, and truth. Children have a way of getting to the heart of things.

I really want my children to be bearers for this generation of these values and ideals. I want them to not only be able to take care of themselves, but also to be able to take care of those around them who are suffering, who are poor, who are needy, and to be able to have a moral compass that will help them stand up for social justice and truth in a context greater than themselves.

In doing this, I have been thinking about:

Modeling Compassion and a Moral Compass- Children are watching, and I better walk what my talk is saying. It is sort of like saying, “You cannot watch TV (but I will watch 15 hours a day on my computer or phone”). We cannot say we want our children to demonstrate a value for justice and peace if we do nothing to show compassion in our own family and in our community, and if we live a life completely separate and without regard for what we espouse.

Respect – If we cannot respect our children when they speak up, how on earth do we expect them to be able to speak up on important issues or when they have the differing opinion from a room full of people?

Humilty – It is not up to us to save the world by ourselves. But it is up to us to do our part and to shine our light where we can. We need others to show us, help us, heal us, and strive together. Change can be slow, slower than we often would like. We must be humble and acknowledge that it takes long, hard work to make effective change whether in ourselves or on a societal level and it takes more than just ourselves. There are many stars shining in the darkness. Respecting the boundaries between what I can do myself and what I can’t without sacrificing my own family or my own health is part of that humility.

Community – Living in a community of people dedicated to justice and peace will not only push us as adults toward greater education, knowledge, and activism, it will help us model for our children and control our own egotism. It helps us share comfort, forgiveness, and reconciliation as we work together.

Diversity – I have a quote up on my personal Facebook page that “love illuminates.” Demonstrating love for all and putting those ideals into action is even more important than the words. Think of others, think of others as individuals, and think about things, even large issues, from that point of view.

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The Parenting Passageway

Welcome to The Parenting Passageway

A passageway, as one would guess, is a conduit to the next thing: a way to allow movement from one place, condition or stage to the next. This blog is entitled “The Parenting Passageway” as it is intended to help support and encourage parents in peaceful parenting for our hectic world. Thank you for reading and many blessings to you

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